


Fade To Black

by ebenflo



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Credence Barebone Deserves Better, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, MACUSA | Magical Congress of the United States of America, Protective Original Percival Graves, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 10:53:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9604841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebenflo/pseuds/ebenflo
Summary: Credence Barebone survives the Auror blitz. Percival Graves is rescued from his entombment. Theirs was a story that could have come from a fairytale. But not all fairytales have happy endings, and sooner or later, Credence Barebone must face the law for his crimes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Nothing you recognise belongs to me. I merely borrow Joanne's creations for my (and your) entertainment. And angst. Sorry. Bring tissues.

"Percival I can't accept this," Seraphina says crisply, her tone cool and controlled, though tempered just the slightest with sympathy. She fingers his resignation papers with one curved nail painted brightly magenta, in stark contrast to the cream of the parchment.

 

"You can. You will." A vein throbs somewhere in his head, close to where his temples are skirted with silver. "I have nothing left to offer this place," Graves lets out a joyless laugh. "I have nothing left."

 

_Will you love me forever?_

_Forever and a day, my sweet boy._

 

"And your other request...Percival I must refuse. Why throw your life away?"

 

"My life died with him. You know that." Graves clutches a familiar flat black hat to his chest, but he doesn't dare breathe in a scent he knows all too well, clinging now even after its owner is gone. "Do not let me live in agony."

 

**

 

It took a jury of twelve less than seven minutes to find Credence Barebone guilty of all twenty-four charges he was accused of. Another eight to deliver their punishment, which in their words, fit the crime.

 

A jury of twelve, minus the Director of Security, who sat outside the Woolworth building on a park bench, head in his hands, unable to even enter the building thanks to a number of temporarily erected wards. Not that his vote would have swayed the outcome. The voting, after all, had been unanimous.

_Until death do you part._

 

The silver band on his hand was now a cold, mocking shackle, tethering him to a future that would no longer exist after this afternoon. His insides ached as he stared up the dizzying towers, trying not to think of Credence. Was he afraid? Worse still perhaps, did he think Graves had given up on him?

 

Graves would have torn down those wards with his bare hands if he could, but he knew how impenetrable they were. After all, he had designed half of them himself. He had poured so much of his life into MACUSA. Sacrificed everything in the name of the law. Almost twenty years, Graves mused darkly, and the only things he would have left to his name were nightmares and an empty bed.

 

He paced restlessly up against the invisible barrier like a caged tiger until finally, like a gasp of air after a deep plunge, he felt them give.

 

First, he needed to see Seraphina Picquery.

 

**

 

"Barebone, you have a visitor."

 

The holding cell door clangs open and he hears heavy footsteps behind him.

 

Trembling, Credence doesn't turn around. It's been three hours since they delivered his fate. Three hours, two minutes and seventeen seconds. The spells around his cell won't let him shift and he can feel the Obscurus curling and turning within itself, itching to be free. It won't be long now though. He will die, that much is certain. It's only a matter of time now. And Credence thinks maybe it won't be so bad. A blink, a sigh and then no more. No more fighting or fleeing. No more anger or sorrow or pain. Just a long sleep.

 

If it weren't for Percival Graves. Credence lets out a whimper and clutches his sides. His own life is forfeit. He cannot bear to fathom the pain it will cause his husband.

 

"You've grown thin," a gruff voice says. It's unfamiliar...but is it? Credence peeks around at his companion, a burly old wizard with bushy curls and fierce eyebrows.

 

"Did you think I could leave you?"

 

"Do I know you?" Credence whispers. And the man begins shifting...height lengthening, cheeks contracting, hair shortening into a severe undercut.

 

Graves.

 

"I don't have long," Graves says breathily, pressing agonising kisses that will surely bruise to his brows and cheekbones and neck. "Oh gods. Credence I love you."

 

Graves is sobbing, crumpled and broken in his arms. For one wild second Credence wants to laugh out loud because isn't he the one who's dying in this situation? He wants to yell at Graves to live his life to the fullest and make every day count, but the words choke in his throat like poison and instead Credence settles for wrapping his sinewy arms around his husband and murmuring soft reassurances into his hair. Graves has always smelled like musky aftershave and rain on a hot road. It is a scent Credence wants to take to his deathbed.

 

"I'll stop them," Graves croaks, nose red and cheeks ruddy. His hands are fisted in the thin prison robes that cloak Credence's slight frame, rendered more fragile by his time in custody.

 

"You won't," Credence soothes, surprising them both with how very calm he is now. Their fairytale has no happy ending. "You can't."

 

"I can't go on without you."

 

"You can and you will."

 

"Credence I-"

 

"Credence Barebone," comes the call. Outside the door two guards linger, aware of Graves but unsure how to continue. There is no protocol for leading the husband of the Director of Security to his death. Both waver in their resolve but ultimately it is Credence who makes the decision for them all.

 

"I'm ready."

 

"No!" Graves yells. His eyes are wild and full of strange light, perhaps desperation. Credence, younger and older all at the same time, gently pries Graves' hands from him.

 

"Percy, you know this is the right thing to do."

 

"Fuck the right thing."

 

"Percy, please. Let this be. The Obscurus is as much a part of me as my eyes or my hands. I cannot blame everything that has happened on it as if it were a separate entity. You taught me to be brave. Now let me use that courage."

 

"Sir I-" calls a young pimply guard.

 

"Go to hell," Graves snarls but his words are empty. Credence, taller by mere inches, presses a gentle kiss to Graves' cheek, and is gone.

 

**

 

"Credence, step this way," the attendant says softly, gesturing to the dark and silent pool in the middle of the room. "Doesn't this look nice? Do you want to get in?"

 

 _No,_ Credence thinks, yet he is unable to tear his eyes away from the pool.

 

He sees Graves there, the first time they meet. A dark, solemn promise of greater things to come.

 

His feet shuffle two steps closer and a gentle smile lights his face.

 

He sees their first kiss, stolen in the darkness of an alley, Graves arms either side of his head, caging him against the dirty bricks. He remembers the taste of whiskey and sin and all he can think is _more._

 

"That's it Credence, keep going, you can be in that moment forever."

 

 _Yes,_ Credence thinks. _Forever is a lovely thought._

 

He sees the first time they made love, not long after Graves is rescued from his own broom closet. The both of them broken and battered in different ways, every thrust of Graves inside him a prayer for redemption. In the afterglow Credence would think _yes, this here is my forever. I will never want for anything more._ Graves was thinking the same apparently - he told him so four months later when he proposed.

 

He sees Graves sleeping, glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose, open book resting on his chest.

 

His feet are at the edge of the pool now.

 

He sees Graves turn to him and smile, eyes crinkling at the corners.

 

And then he sees no more.

 

**

 

"Percival...if I do this, there's no going back."

 

"Please. I can't live this way. I - I can't live without him. I'm not strong like he was."

 

"You were one of our finest." Seraphina says it sincerely and Graves believes her. They were close during their schooling years. It is unfortunate how their life paths have lead them down this road. He cannot forgive her, but at least he can forget her, and everything else from his past.

 

"Thank you."

 

"Good night, Percival Graves."

 

"Seraphina-"

 

"Obliviate."


End file.
